Two Men Charged Over Attack On London Based Iranian Journalist

British prosecutors have authorized charges to be brought against two Romanians over the stabbing of a London based Iranian  journalist working for a Persian language media organization

Pouria Zeraati, who works for Iran International, sustained leg injuries after being stabbed near his home in Wimbledon, southwest London, in March.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said two young Romanians were arrested in Romania on Wednesday.

They were charged with wounding the Iranian journalist with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and wounding.

The two Romanians have been identified as Nandito Badea, 19 and George Stana, 23.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said, “Following a review of the evidence provided by the Metropolitan Police Service’s Counter Terrorism Command, we have authorised charges against two Romanian nationals.”

“They have both now appeared in a Romanian court for the start of extradition proceedings,” a CPS spokesperson said.

Counter-terrorism police led the investigation into the attack over concerns that Pouria was targeted because of his job at the Persian language television news network.

This news network is critical of Iran’s government.

“We continue to work closely with Romanian authorities, to ensure that our extradition request is progressed through the courts.”

British police, security officials and politicians have issued several warnings about what they say is Iran’s growing use of criminal proxies to carry out attacks abroad.

In December last year, an Austrian man was convicted in Britain for gathering information that could be used in an attack.

He was accused of carrying out “hostile reconnaissance” on Iran International’s London headquarters.

The following month, Britain imposed sanctions on Iranian officials it said were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil.

The UK’s domestic spy chief, Ken McCallum, said in October that since January 202, his MI5 service and the police had responded to 20 Iranian-backed plots.

These plots potentially posed lethal threats to UK citizens and residents.

Iran rejected those accusations and accused Britain of hosting what it called terrorist groups.

The CPS Counter Terrorism Division prosecutes terrorism cases.

It deals with other complex casework areas including allegations of incitement to hatred, Core International Crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and torture and Counter State Threats.

(With inputs from Reuters)